Filmmaker Tommy Wirkola was introduced to Kiwi audiences at the 2009 New Zealand Film Festival with his Nazi zombie film Dead Snow.
Now Wirkola has a new movie on our screens, this time with a R16-rated, 3D update on classic fairytale Hansel & Gretel.
In Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the titular brother and sister, all grown up and making a living by killing witches.
I spoke with Wirkola about his new film, his fondness for Peter Jackson and what to expect in his upcoming sequel to Dead Snow.
What about the Hansel & Gretel tale made you want to make this film?
It was my favourite fairytale growing up. I had it on an old cassette tape and I used to listen to it in bed at night. It scared the hell out of me! People forget how truly dark and twisted those stories are. It talks about a witch burning alive in an oven, screaming and scratching. It stayed with me, and as I got older I realised that the fairytale worked as a great first act of a film. So I took those characters, wrote a script around them growing up as witch hunters and added action and humour to it.
You’ve cited Peter Jackson as an influence and Dead Snow clearly shares similarities with his early films. How big a fan of his are you?
I’ve been saying in all my interviews that Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi are my biggest influences. I remember seeing Braindead for the first time and being blown away by how insanely gory that was. It was so much fun, with its own unique sense of humour. That was a game-changer for me, seeing how a filmmaker could mix those sort of elements and still have it be a fun ride.
So Braindead is your favourite Peter Jackson film?
Well I love Lord of the Rings as well, I’m actually a big Lord of the Rings geek. But yeah, Braindead has a special place in my heart.
Do you have a favourite moment in Braindead?
Well everybody loves the lawnmower scene, but for me I really love it when the priest goes crazy. He yells, “I kick ass for the lord!” and then starts tearing up the zombies. That was always a favourite scene of mine.
Gemma Arterton as Gretel
There's a unique set of weapons in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, including both medieval melee weapons and modern firearms. How did you come up with that weapon design?
We wanted the movie to feel timeless and for the movie to feel like a fairytale, but still grounded. It was a lot of fun coming up with the different weapon designs and ways of killing witches. We mixed old and new elements. But no matter how modern some of the weapons are, they all have an old-fashioned feel and look like they could fit into this world. The modern elements lend themselves to the fun tone we were aiming for with the film as well. It adds to the humour in a way.
How was it working with producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, guys firmly rooted in the comedy world, on this film?
My script always had a lot of humour in it, but those guys are some of the best in the world working in comedy and they added some ideas here and there. They always embraced the horror/comedy mix I wanted to do.
Jeremy Renner and especially Gemma Arterton both have solid comic timing in the film and showed funny sides of themselves I hadn’t really seen before. Were you confident they’d be funny enough?
At the time I sent him the script, I’d only seen Jeremy in The Hurt Locker. But when I met him, he was a really funny guy with a great sense of humour. And the same with Gemma – she actually has a really filthy sense of humour. That was important to me, the humour is essential to this film and when I met these two I realised they would be perfect for it.
Jeremy Renner as Hansel
You filmed in Germany, where the story was originally written. There were a few shots of the dark, snowy forest at night where it seemed like you were bringing in a Norwegian aesthetic, is that fair to say?
It’s a German thing as well. From day one, I was very clear that I wanted to shoot this thing in Europe. I really wanted that European feel of cold mountains, big forests, that sort of spirit was important to me. Luckily we did get to shoot it in Germany which is the homeland of the fairytale. Shooting in natural outdoor sets is very important to me, compared to working on a sound stage.
The film is R-rated, so you had the freedom to show the blood, nudity and swearing you have in it. But the gore is more restrained than in Dead Snow. How did you find getting that balance right?
We wanted to make it an action adventure film, first and foremost, with horror, gore and comedy elements thrown into it. We ended up with the theatrical release being the one with the broadest appeal possible. There will be a Blu-ray release that will have a lot more gore and be more extreme. But the theatrical release has the edge I always wanted it to have and it has the right balance.
Is there a moment in the film that you’re most proud of?
One thing I’m really proud of is the troll. He’s an animatronic creature, he’s not CGI. There’s an actor inside it with five guys controlling his facial expressions by remote. I pushed hard for that and I think it really paid off. He looks amazing and he was there on set with the actors, which is great for them. Watching the movie, you feel that he is real and belongs in the world.
Tommy Wirkola (Reuters)
As far as someone's first Hollywood film goes, this one is pretty crazy. Does it feel surreal that it all actually happened and it's in cinemas now?
Yeah. The short answer is yes. I’m still surprised that they went for it, because it’s a crazy, rock n’ roll script. It’s full throttle, there’s lots of blood and gore and bad language, I often wonder how I got this movie made. It’s all across the world now. But people really seem to respond to it, which is what we hoped, that people would enjoy this ride.
How did you find working within the Hollywood system compared to making a film in Norway?
The challenges are still the same – it’s about telling a story, working with your actors and making the best movie that you can. But the stakes are higher, there’s a lot more money involved, and the studio itself is involved, which is something I had never experienced before. In Norway, you shoot a movie, then go into a room with the producer and editor and then you’re done, it goes to the cinema. With a studio there’s testing and all this other stuff, but I have to say the studio has been great to me and have always believed in my vision. It’s actually quite liberating because when the studio believes in your project, they’ll give you whatever you need to make it happen.
Did you find the audience-testing process challenging?
It’s not my favourite part of the process, I can be honest about that. I can see why they do it – there’s a lot of money involved and they want it to hit as broad as possible. But I think it’s a flawed process, I really do. It might be a necessary evil, I don’t know. I admit I didn’t like it too much, but that’s how it is.
Have you seen the Asylum or Syfy knockoffs of your movie?
No, I haven’t. I have heard about them and want to check them out, I just need to get a hold of them.
Famke Janssen as a witch
Do you want to do a sequel and make this a franchise?
I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. If people love it, yeah, it could be a fun world to go back to. I loved working with Jeremy and Gemma and would do that again in a heartbeat.
What else is coming up for you?
I’m writing a new script for Gary Sanchez Productions, it’s an action adventure western film that I’ve always wanted to make. I’m actually going back to Norway to shoot a sequel to Dead Snow soon though. I’m really eager because the script is ten times better than the first one and I’m really anxious to do that.
I hope Dead Snow 2 has a scene as funny as the toilet love sequence in the first movie.
We have something that I think tops that. It’ll be the first human/zombie love scene ever... it's very interesting.
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters opens in New Zealand cinemas today.
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source: newshub archive
